“Documentary Views of Taiwan”: A Taiwan Documentary Film Festival and Symposium at Columbia

“Documentary Views of Taiwan”: A Taiwan Documentary Film Festival and Symposium at Columbia

Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York is pleased to partner with Columbia University Libraries, School of the Arts, Film Studies M.A. Program, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and Weatherhead East Asian Institute and Asia-Pacific Development Society to present: “Documentary Views of Taiwan”: A Taiwan Documentary Film Festival and Symposium at Columbia, October 11-12, 2013.

OCT. 11 (FRIDAY), 2013

2:00-3:00 p.m.
Film Screening
(Open to public;Registration)Location: Lifetime Screening Room, 511 Dodge HallTitle: Ebb and flow退潮 (2010)Director: Ke Chin-Yuan 柯金源
Running time: 60 min.Languages: In Mandarin Chinese; with English subtitles.
Synopsis: A documentary about the traditional life style and natural environment of the fishermen living in the middle-west coaster of Taiwan.

3:00-4:00 p.m.
Film Screening
(Open to public;Registration)Location: Lifetime Screening Room, 511 Dodge HallTitle: Song of the forest森之歌: 台灣土地上美妙的歌詠 (2010)Director: Ke Chin-Yuan柯金源
Running time: 60 min.
Languages: In Mandarin with English subtitles
Synopsis: A documentary shows the beauty of the forest ecosystem and its history of preservation and damage in Taiwan.

4:10-5:00 p.m.
Panel
(Open to public;Registration)Panel Discussion with The Film Director

5:30-7:30 p.m.
(Invitation only)Opening Reception and Ceremony of Donation of of Chorographical Materials to Columbia University

Location: Starr East Asian Library Reading Room, Kent Hall
Remarks by:
Damon E. Jaggars, Associate University Librarian for Collections and Services, Columbia University
Susan Yu, Director, The Taipei Cultural Center of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York
Carol Becker, Dean of Columbia University School of the Arts
Haruo Shirane, Chair of East Asian Languages and Cultures
Myron Cohen, Director of Weatherhead East Asian Institute

11:10 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Film Screening
(Open to public;Registration)Location: Lifetime Screening Room, 511 Dodge HallTitle: The gangsters’ God: a documentary about Taiwan’s underworld炸神明: 一部道上兄弟的紀錄片 (2006)Director: Ho Chao-ti賀照緹
Running time: 49 min.
Languages: In Mandarin with English subtitles.
Synopsis: Each year at Lantern Festival in eastern Taiwan, a ritual takes place in which men stand on a sacred palanquin dressed in nothing but red shorts, while people pound their bodies with firecrackers that singe their skin. For the duration of the ritual, these men are believed to be invested with the spirit of the god Handan. The ritual known as the Scorching of Handan has become a major event in recent years. The people who take part have always been shrouded in mystery and rumored to be members of the gangsters’ underworld. Filmed over the course of 22 months, [the film] takes the viewer right into the local underworld community of Taitung, and follows a chapter in the dramatic lives of four “Brothers”.

1:30-2:10 p.m.
(Open to public;Registration)Lecture by Prof. Tze-lan Deborah Sang, Michigan State University

3:30-4:50 p.m.
Film Screening
(Open to public;Registration)Location: Lifetime Screening Room, 511 Dodge HallTitle: Sock’n Roll 台灣黑狗兄 (2013)
Director: Ho Chao-ti賀照緹
Running time: 78 min.
Languages: In Taiwanese dialect and some Mandarin Chinese, with Chinese and English subtitles.Synopsis: A documentary looks at the predicament faced by Taiwan’s small enterprises through the story of a sock town in rapid decline.

4:50-5:40 p.m.
(Open to public;Registration)Panel Discussion with The Film Director